Hello Team,
I would like to take a moment and thank everyone for electing me President of the Cumberland Cycles Race Team for 2008. I was very excited when I found out that I was going to lead the Team for the '08 season. The Team had a very successful foundation year and I plan more growth for this coming year.
I have some idea where I want to see the Team next year, but the future is wide open to us . No one thought the first year would be anywhere as good as it was but look at what all we done! GREAT JOB GUYS and GIRLS!!!
We are all new to this project so it's a learning experience for everyone involved, I am very open minded and will listen to all input. If you want something changed or have a question don't hesitate to call me. My cell phone is aways on and I can be reached almost anytime.
There are a lot of issues I plan on addressing this season, but getting the Race Team ready for competition is first. Later community education/awareness, rider etiquette, route markings and recreational ride organization will be tackled. We also plan on putting on at least two sanctioned races, starting a criterium series to go along with the Barnesburg TT Series(which also will be sanctioned), and doing something for those guys who like to ride mountain bikes.
We have gotten some great sponsors for the Team and now our focus needs to turn to designing the new "kits" for the riders and start training (Haynes Knob hill repeats!).Our first race is creeping up fast,end of January, and there is a lot of work to be done.
I believe we need to get the community behind us more, let them know what we are doing out there, why we ride seven days a week, lets get them excited to see us on the road, not buzz us with their cars! If they knew there were top ranked riders and future stars in their midst they might even respect us. We as cyclists need to respect the rules of the road also, we can't be passing cars at stop lights just to be passed again when the light turns green which just slows down traffic and angers drivers and that effects the reputation we are working on. RIDE SMART. More on that later.
There are plans to have a Kentuckiana Spring Training Series Race here in Somerset in the spring. The Burnside Lake Fest Race will also be sanctioned next year. This years race, despite the low turn out was a good learning experience for us. I made some important personal contacts with the county through it and they are excited to be a part of cycling and want more! I already have permission to start planning the criterium series downtown or wherever else we want it.
There is going to be a lot of work done on getting a better "club" ride program together. There have been several attempts at this with mixed results, hopefully we can find a system that will work.
I will end with that. There are a lot of subjects to talk about and I will try to get to all of them at a later date. Again, thank you all for your support.
Brad Herrman
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